Digimon: Predecessors
by LeoBlaze
Summary: This is the story of the first digidestined mentioned at the end of Season 1 of Digimon. Answering questions brought up by the first season, Predecessors follows a group of high school students led by Paul, a boy filled with dreams and creativity.
1. Episode 1: Lost and Found Part 1

Episode 1: Lost and Found

Part 1

The toy-like shapes of Primary Village were seen as a solitary voice hummed merrily. Baby digimon were hopping up and down in time with the tune.

"Ho ho," Jijimon exclaimed. "What fun we're having, eh? Good job, Botamon. You're getting a lot of height, there."

The small, black digimon continued to jump happily until, in midair, it began to glow.

"Botamon digivolve to… Koromon!"

"Yay!" the small digimon all cheered. "Congratulations, Koromon!"

"Yes, yes. Well done indeed," Jijimon said. "You've made a big step today, my friend. Digivolving is a very difficult process. It requires a lot of time and energy. You're lucky to do it so early. Some can't even manage what you just did. They just don't have the strength." Jijimon contemplated on that thought for a moment. "But enough of that! You have to get ready for tomorrow."

"Why, Jijimon?" asked Koromon. "Are we having company?"

"No, no," the wizened old man chuckled. "I mean that tomorrow you will make your journey to the Koromon Village. It's where you'll meet others of your kind so you can start making friends and learning how to survive in this world."

"Koromon Village? You mean there are others like me?"

"Yes, my young friend. Many more."

"Can I you see the village from here? I wanna see! I wanna see!"

Koromon started jumping again, only this time, he could jump twice as high as before. He continued to jump higher until he landed on top of the tallest tower. From his vantage point, he could see over the village entirely.

"Be careful, Koromon," Jijimon warned. "Not too high now. You'll hurt yourself."

"It's okay. I'm good at jumping now. Wait! I see something!"

"That's nonsense. The Koromon Village is on the continent of Server. It's far, far away from here. You can't possibly see it."

"No! Someone's coming!"

"Well, it's probably Gennai. He said he needed to speak with me today."

"Uh…I don't think it's Gennai," Koromon said. "Unless Gennai grew real big and mean all of the sudden."

"Koromon, get down from there. It could be dangerous."

"But I wanna see who it is."

"Koromon, get down!"

"Oh…ok." As Koromon turned to hop off of the ledge, a bright flash blanketed every corner of Primary Village. "Aah!"

Jijimon was forced to cover his eyes from the flash. Once he gazed upward again, he was met by a digiegg, which fell from the ledge where Koromon used to be. Jijimon dropped his cane, raced forward, and caught the egg just before it hit the ground. He stared down at it, tears welling up in his eyes, and carefully placed it down on the ground. The digimon then picked up his cane again and gripped it tightly, ready to protect his village from the intruder.

"Giga Cannon!" Four shining energy balls ripped through the village.

Sighting each incoming bullet, Jijimon counters with his staff. "Cat's Cane!"

Jijimon successfully deflected two of the balls, but the third grazed him and the fourth landed in the direction of the huddled baby digimon. He fell on his stomach, the breath knocked out of him, just in time to see that the children he swore to protect were gone. In the wake of the attack, digieggs fell everywhere around what was left of the village. Giant piles of what used to be the towers of colorful objects lay smoldering. Now the only survivor, Jijimon grasped his cane and struggled to his feet. Staring at the digieggs around him, tears fell from his face.

"No. No!" Jijimon raised his arms in anger and turned to find his attackers. "Who are you? How dare you attack this village? This is a place of rebirth, not of destruction. Show yourself!"

A dark silhouette appeared from behind a pile of rubble, too far away to recognize. Another silhouette, enormous in comparison to the first, is revealed directly behind him.

"No, I don't think we will," the smaller digimon said. "Besides, we have what we came for."

The figure motioned toward a large bag filled to the brim with the familiar round digieggs. Doing a double-take, Jijimon found that the village had been emptied while he was preoccupied.

"The digieggs!" Jijimon shouted. "How dare you even think of such a thing? Why, I'll…" His voice trailed off, leaving a variety of curses that he could have used.

"Uh uh uh. Such language. Don't worry. We'll take good care of them."

"Why, you! Hung-on-Death!"

Jijimon's staff emitted a dark, cloudy substance which drifted towards SkullSatamon, who simply laughed.

"I don't think so. Nail Bone!"

"Impossible!" Jijimon was shocked to see his attack dissipate, overpowered by SkullSatamon's. "I should have beaten you easily!"

"Don't insult us by underestimating our power. We were given more than you can possibly imagine by our master."

"Master? Who is this master of yours? What does he want with the digieggs?"

"He's replacing this pitiful village. It's just not _homey_ enough for the coming generation. Soon every digimon who is reconverted will wake up as his servant."

"Why?" Jijimon pleaded. "Why would you do such a thing and how can you hope to accomplish this?"

"That's for us to know and for you to-"

"Giga Cannon!"

Another flash enclosed the village as Jijimon was engulfed in a blinding blast. He disappeared and one last digiegg fell from the sky. SkullSatamon growled with annoyance and placed the digiegg in the bag.

"What did you do that for? I was just beginning to have fun."

The large digimon finally spoke, leaving a bitter taste in the air. "The master told us not to delay. You were delaying. He also said not to give out information freely. You were disobeying. If he had gotten away, he would have told of our plan."

"You know big guy? You've really got to learn to have some fun."

The pair flew off, SkullSatamon cackling with glee. A lone, humanoid shadow appeared at the edge of what was left of Primary Village.

"No. I'm too late."

* * *

"Paul! You'd better hurry up! You'll be late for school!"

"Be right there, Mom!"

The blond sixteen-year-old quickly grabbed his backpack and rushed out of his room. A split-second later, he reappeared at the doorway. He then began digging frantically through his closet.

"Where did I put them?" Paul asked, mindlessly. "Aha! Gotcha! Can't look cool without 'em!"

"PAUL!"

Slipping on his dark sunglasses, he ran out the door once again.

"Bye mom! Love you!"

He rushed out the door to the apartment, nearly knocking over a woman in the hallway. After exiting the building, he slowed down to a brisk walk. Paul looked down at his wristwatch as he walked. Soon, a large building with the words, "Hartsfield High School" plastered across it came into view. A loud, piercing tone is heard as he stepped through the side entrance.

"Phew," sighed Paul. "That was close! At least I made it in time for the five-minute bell."

Paul walked leisurely down the main corridor, lined with hundreds of metal lockers. When at last he came up to the orange window-lined door, Paul tried the knob. It was locked. He could see his Chemistry teacher, Ms. Johnson, warming up with one of her infamous lectures. Paul knocked lightly on the outside of the door. Ms. Johnson quickly glanced at the door, excused herself, and walked over to open it. A couple of girls started to whisper to each other, stifling smiles. One of them, Paul recognized as Maria Cruz, not the most obvious cheerleader, but a well-devout one. He had no time to contemplate this, because Ms. Johnson was already staring down horn-rimmed glasses at him.

"Well, well. Look who decided to show up," Ms. Johnson mused. "Oh! And a movie star by the looks of it. Are we blinding you with chemistry, Paul?"

Paul realized at that moment what she was talking about and quickly took off his sunglasses, slipping them in his bag. Maria and her friends suddenly couldn't help themselves anymore and burst into giggles. Not missing a beat, Ms. Johnson hushed the girls.

"That's enough! Paul, the tardy bell rang five minutes ago. I'm sorry. I can't let you into class."

"But…my watch said I was on time."

"Well, we go by the school's time, so you'll have to go to detention. Maybe you can reset your watch there so this doesn't happen again."

He heavily continued down the empty hallway, leaving the classroom behind him. Once he reached the end door, he climbed the spiral staircase to the second floor. The stairs opened into the vast hall which lined the school's massive library. When he entered the library, he quickly glanced at the sign taped to the door. It read,

DETENTION: Sign-in inside. No talking! You may do homework if you wish. The library computers are off-limits.

The room was dimly lit and dotted with bookshelves and desktop computers. Paul scanned the room and saw that there were about a dozen students already sitting around various tables. At the table in front of him sat a squat balding man who merely grunted at his entrance and went back to reading his book. Paul quickly signed his name on the pad of paper and slumped down in his seat at an empty table. He glanced around and saw twins, a boy and girl, entertaining each other by making shadow puppets in the dim light. He estimated they were about sixteen as well, but their actions didn't show it. They all were interrupted by the door swinging open and being slammed shut. Maria Cruz had been sent to detention.

"Ugh! It's just not fair!" Maria huffed. "Why did she have to send me to detention just because I didn't have my stupid homework?"

At this, the squat little man jumped up and stared her down.

"Young lady! This is detention. It's meant for discipline, not for your rants against your assignments!"

She muttered a simple, "sorry" and walked to the back of the room and took the seat directly across from Paul. After ten minutes, the monitor got up from his seat and cleared his throat. The students all turned to hear him.

"I have another class to check on, so I have to leave you for a while," the man announced. "As you well know, finals are next week, so I trust you will busy yourselves by studying. You can talk quietly to each other while I'm gone. I also trust you are mature enough to keep your voices down. If you do, I might let you leave early."

He turned around, gathered his book, and strolled out the door.

* * *

"Gennai! You're okay!"

"Yes, I'm fine," the young man said. "Thank you, Sam, but I'm afraid the Primary Village is far from fine. There simply was nothing left."

"At least our allies on the island should keep things in line."

"File Island was invaded by a band of dark digimon, who claimed victory right when I left. It was taken too easily. I don't think there are any left."

Sam winced at the news, and then looked back to his friend. "We have something you definitely need to see."

The younger man led Gennai into a chamber in the interior of the castle. Electronic equipment was strewn all over the floor, so the men had to step carefully in order to avoid tripping. Finally, Sam led Gennai to a large monitoring station. He began typing, as a map of the Digital World flooded the room. Two colored dots appeared on the map followed by a red colored blob.

"Okay. Here we are," Sam pointed at the blue dot. "Primary Village is the white dot and the red zone is the Dark Region, where we think those who attacked the village went."

"How do we know that? Have you found them with the sensors?"

"We can's scan inside the Dark Region. Our sensors couldn't penetrate it. Besides, the sensor array wasn't designed to detect digimon. It just can't do it. What it can do, however, is monitor the energy signatures of this world."

Sam pressed a button as white concentric circles surrounded Primary Village and expanded over the map.

Gennai recognized the way the circles emanated from the village. "Is that…the Digital Rift?"

"Exactly. The Rift is centered directly over Primary Village. It's what captures a digimon's data when it is deleted and sends it to the village."

"We've been over this before. What does that have to do with this?"

"Everything. You see, it's gone," Sam stated. The white circles made way for brighter red ones, emitted from the Dark Region. "Or at least, it's suppressed. Seconds after the village was destroyed, we tracked some strange energy readings coming from the Dark Region. They've made another rift."

"This changes everything. If that's really where the ones who destroyed the village came from, we don't have much of a chance at all. Now all of the digimon who are deleted and reconfigured will be sent right to them. They could raise an entire army!"

"Can't we give it a boost?" Sam asked. "The original rift, I mean. If we can power the old rift at the right time, we might be able to send a few deleted digimon back to the village. That way we could at least save some of them."

"It might work, but we'd only have one shot at this. Even then, we'd only have enough power to keep it going for a few hours. I don't know how much good it would do. Plus, without any of our allies on the village, the reconfigured would be helpless."

"It's our only chance."

"Let's do it."

* * *

The detention monitor's absence left the students speechless.

"Well what do we do now?" Paul asked the others.

One of the twins looked up and answered. "Stay here, I guess. I'm Rob, by the way. Rob Sullivan. This is my sis, Nina."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Paul."

A tall, dark-haired boy in black jeans, and a brown leather jacket stood up.

"That's it. I'm outta here."

"What?" Rob exclaimed. "You can't leave. They'll suspend you!"

"I don't remember asking you what they'll do. I'm leaving. Besides, who's gonna stop me, kid? You? I don't think so."

With that, he stormed out of the library and casually continued down the hall. Many of the other students followed, keeping a look-out to see if they were being watched. Paul, Rob, Nina, Maria, and a tall basketball jock were the only people that remained in the library.

"Who's he callin' kid?" Rob asked, a bit annoyed. "He had a lot of nerve. Who does that guy think he is?"

"Josh Marshall," Maria piped in. "It's not that he doesn't like obeying rules or listening to people. He just doesn't care anymore."

"Hey, I know him," the jock said. "He played basketball at the beginning of the year. He didn't last long. Got kicked off the team the third week in. It's too bad. He was pretty good."

"Why'd he get kicked off?" Nina asked.

"Coach said he had some family issue. Couldn't handle the stress, or something like that."

"That's not it at all," Maria added. "That big apartment fire happened that same week. He was in the Volunteer Fire Department. Didn't you notice his jacket? He saved a lot of those people. The news media was raving that he was some kind of boy hero. He hates it."

Nina looked puzzled. "So, if the media called him a hero, why does he hate it?"

Maria solemnly added, "He blames himself because he couldn't save one family. He saved all the rest, but couldn't go back in for the last family because the building collapsed."

"That's so sad. How awful for him, that he took it so hard."

Maria nodded. "Mmhm. He quit the department after that. Then he just shut everyone out."

The jock stood up. "That doesn't give him the right to take it out on us."

Maria was about to object to his statement when a bright flash interrupted them. A thunderous booming sound followed and shook the building.

"A storm?" Rob asked. "The news this morning said we had no chance of rain all week! I wish we could use the computers to go online and see what's up."

"Can't we?" Nina asked. "Come on! No one's looking. I'll do it."

Nina quickly sat down at a desktop and typed in her school password. A resounding boom echoed throughout the school. The lights and computers all over the building flickered and shut down.

"Well, that's just great. I get halfway through logging in and the power goes out," Nina moaned. "It's just our luck."

"It's okay. Here." Paul reached into his bag and produced his computer for Nina. "You can use my laptop."

"You bring a laptop to school?" the jock asked. "What a nerd."

"It's what I do all my programming on. I like to make different types of programs in my free time."

"Wow. You did it. I didn't think you could. You suddenly got ten times more pathetic in five seconds."

Paul ignored the comment and plugged a cable from nearby computer into his own.

"Now if the school's internet is still online, we can…Bingo! We're online!"

The laptop instantly powers down and the screen goes blank.

"Or not. Great job, genius."

"It's not my fault! The battery was fully charged! It makes no sense!"

The room was filled once again with bright light, but this time, with a reddish tinge. Soon afterward, blue, yellow, and green streaks are seen jetting through the sky followed by thunder.

"Um, is it just me, or did it just become the Fourth of July in here?"

"This isn't like any storm I've ever seen."

"Look," the jock said. "There's no rain or wind! The clouds aren't even moving! This can't get any weirder."

The dark clouds began to swirl, followed by a gale-force wind that caused the building to sway and creak. Maria turned to him and shook her head.

"You had to say it."

* * *

"Power levels are at full capacity and still holding, Gennai. I'm bringing up Primary Village on the screen so we can monitor its progress."

The map blinked as the white dot of Primary village grew to fill the entire screen.

"Good job, Sam. Now all we can do is wait."

The screen flashed again, revealing a hole in the center of the rift. It intensified, giving them a momentary glimpse of tall skyscrapers, motorized vehicles, and people.

"What is that?"

"The rift! We might have pushed things too far. It seems that the super-charged rift is too big and powerful to be contained in our world alone. It's crossing over into another!"

"The human world! This is…"

"Yes! This fluke may have given us the edge we need! Don't shut it down!"

Gennai quickly ran out of the room and returned a moment later holding a small gray box. He pressed a few keys on his controls as six clear devices rose out from within the box.

"The digivices! But they haven't been tested! No human has ever set foot in this world either! We don't know-"

"We don't have a choice, Sam. The fate of this world depends on what we can do. We must use all our resources to protect it."

Sam paused and then nodded in agreement. They each fiddled with controls, then watch as the digivices raced through the room and out the door. A few moments later, six energy blips moved onto the screen as they passed through the hole in the rift.

"Here goes nothing."

* * *

Tremors shook the building, warping the windows inward. The wind howled around the school as Paul and the others struggled to stay on their feet. Paul used this time to stow his laptop securely in his bag before daring to look up. As he looked outside again, he gasped. Six bright pinpricks of light stood in contrast to the threatening clouds around them. The lights intensified as the pinpricks grew as big as soccer balls. Like meteorites falling, the six objects tore through the sky.

"Everyone get down!"

Reaching their target, the six blasted through the already-weakened windows throwing broken glass in every direction. Moments later, all that could be heard was wind whipping through the broken windows. As the group slowly staggered to their feet, they each looked down, haunted by a strange device laying just inches from their feet. Bending for a closer look, the students picked up their newfound devices. Once touched, they glowed eerily. Another bright flash blanketed the area once more. And then, they were gone.

* * *

"Sam! Now! Give it everything we've got! We need to keep that rift open!"

Sam fiddled with a few switches then flipped the one labeled "Emergency Power."

"Try it now."

Even more energy surged through the console as the lights around them dimmed.

"It's working!

* * *

A lone figure, shrouded in darkness sat in his chair, contemplating a map of the Digital World. A door opened behind him, casting a brilliant light into the room.

"Insolent fools! Don't you understand that I'm not to be disturbed? How dare you burst into my private chamber?"

Twenty digimon rushed into the room, surrounding the dark individual.

"Sorry for the intrusion," the leader of the group said sarcastically. "We cannot let you get away with what you did to Primary Village. We're here to stop you."

"Don't make me laugh! _You_ will stop me? I am Phelesmon! Supreme ruler of this world. You don't have the power to challenge me! No one does!"

"We'll see about that. Ray of Victory!"

"Spike Buster!"

"Strike Claw!"

"Master Fire!"

"Tri-Horn Attack!"

"Scorpion Storm!"

"Striking Fish!"

"Ninja Flower!"

"Lightning Blade!"

"Crow Swords!"

"Halley Squall!"

"Heat Wave!"

"Homing Laser!"

"Lightning Spear!"

"Beak Buster!"

"Metal Smirk Bomb!"

"Cold Flame!"

"Grau Realm!"

"Thunder Stormer!"

"Imp Bomb!"

Each blast was either deflected or cancelled out by attacks driven from the corners of the room. The same two digimon, who attacked Primary Village appeared from those corners.

"Right," Phelesmon chortled. "Time to teach you imbeciles that no one defies Phelesmon and lives to tell about it!"

"Giga Cannon!"

"Nail bone!"

Dozens of blasts from the two foes sent the digimon flying, falling to the ground powerless.

Phelesmon finally strode toward this group of rebels. "And to finish you off- Demon Shout!"

A sonic wave emitted from Phelesmon's lips, deleting the digimon one by one, leaving their leader last. He fell to his knees, staring at the ground.

"Ugh. We may have been defeated today, but know this. There will always be those who oppose you. They will continue the fight with or without us. No one can control the powers of darkness."

"Hahaha! Ah, my little digi-dolt. You really do think in such two-dimensional terms. I don't try to control them. I _am_ the powers of darkness. Don't worry. When you're reconfigured, I'm sure you all will make fine foot soldiers."

The leader gasped and was deleted.

* * *

"It worked!" Sam cheered. "I'm picking up a signal. The digivices are back in Primary Village."

"Thank goodness. We can only hope the humans made the safely."

"And…look! I'm reading a large group of digimon about to be reconfigured."

"How large? Just how many are there?"

"Twenty."

"Twenty? Twenty…" Gennai sat, thinking of who these nameless fallen could be. "No… UlforceVeedramon…"

"This is bad. If the Ulforce Army attacked together and failed, how can we stand a chance against Phelesmon at all?"

"We must rely on these humans. We must rely on them and hope that it is enough. What's that?"

Gennai pointed at a blue stripe that blinked onto the screen. As the region shrank and once again became the familiar map of the Digital World, the answer became clear.

"It's Phelesmon. He's compensating for our energy transfer. He's regaining control! The system's overloading! We don't have enough power to fight it!"

"We have to try. They're our only hope!"

The computer and all the lights blinked out. A low hum sounded as the lights slowly returned to normal.

"Check. How many did we get?"

"I can't tell for sure. Half at the most."

"If we're lucky, ten digimon and six humans."

"Actually five, according to the log."

"What? Five? What happened to the sixth?"

* * *

Josh groaned as he struggled to stay conscious. He slowly rose to his feet and noticed a small device resting by his arm. He picked it up to look it over. A bright flash blinded him as he was torn from consciousness once more. 


	2. Episode 1: Lost and Found Part 2

Episode 1: Lost and Found

Part 2

Josh woke up to a pounding headache. He cursed as he slowly sat up, the fresh taste of blood in his mouth. Not knowing exactly what hit him angered him slightly. He opened his eyes, only to find there was little difference in what he could see. The hallway was pitch black. With his senses slowly returning to him, he felt the small device, still clenched in his fist. He raised his hand to his face, to see if he could make out what it was. The most he could determine was that it was rectangular and slightly translucent.

"Weird," he determined. "Hey! Is anyone else in here?"

He got up, dusted himself off, and listened for an answer, hearing nothing but a faint bubbling and whirring. He noticed that these were not sounds that could be normally heard in a school, but couldn't explain it. Determined to solve this mystery, he stepped forward slowly, feeling in the darkness, searching for some sort of light source. Before long, he bumped into a solid object, which shook, causing its contents to wobble. Staring closer, Josh could barely make out large ovular shapes sitting on a table. Puzzled by this, Josh didn't notice footsteps coming closer from his right. Light brilliantly flooded the room and Josh recoiled at the shock from the sudden change of light. He however was bewildered to find that he was no longer even in his school. He was instead in an eerie room filled with brightly colored and designed eggs, sitting on identical tables. The room was massive. By sheer length alone, it could hold two football fields. He estimated the tables numbered in the hundreds, each with at least four eggs nestled on top. In the distance, he could see a towering sea of black cables, rising from floor to ceiling. Branching out from this tower were more cables, running along the ceiling, providing the light for the room and giving off arcs of violet energy to certain eggs. Were it not for the looming tower and its cables, Josh would have assumed he had ended up in some sort of animal nursery. Josh finally heard the heavy footsteps coming from the hallway to his right and ducked under the closest table. From this vantage point, he was able to see some sort of red-skinned creature enter the room. Josh was dumbstruck as he saw the unearthly appearance of the creature. It had a green mane, orange splotches, and a brilliant blue underbelly, with two sharp tusks to match. It was wearing what looked like some sort of tribal mask, which gave him the appearance of some sort of misshapen elephant. The thing that shocked Josh more was when this elephant-creature started talking.

"Well, well, little ones," the creature chortled at the eggs. "Are you ready to serve the master today? Ha! Of course you are! Now, which one of you should I pick for master's experiment? Ah!"

The monster stopped in front of an egg with a brownish-tan color that looked tattered because of its scale-like protrusions that rose off of its surface.

"You will do nicely," the creature added, with a gleam in its eye as it lifted the egg off of its stand with mighty blue tusks. It then turned back to the hallway, missing Josh completely, and trotted out of sight with its prize.

Josh shook his head violently, trying to bring himself back to reality. _A red-skinned, tusked creature just walked in, **talked** and left._ He crawled out of his hiding place when he was sure the coast was clear.

"I've got to get out of here," Josh said, looking around, hoping the way back to reality was somewhere in the room. The eggs, for the most part, each had a unique pattern and color scheme. He finally glimpsed the stand that had contained the egg that was taken. Staring forward, Josh remembered what his chief had said repeatedly in his fire rescue training. "What do we do? We rescue people? No. We don't just rescue people, but anyone. Anything that breathes, and is in danger is our responsibility. Anything that has a heart that beats is our responsibility. Anything that wants to eat, sleep, and live for one more day is our responsibility!" He paused and looked down at the empty egg stand. _If that thing spoke to the egg that way, it might not just be alive, it might be intelligent! All of these might be! That monster!_ _The creature is going to experiment on that egg!_

"Not if I can help it."

Not knowing what dangers the egg, itself, contained, Josh clenched his fist that contained his small device and ran after the creature as quietly as he could.

* * *

Paul slowly opened his eyes. He groaned as he rolled over onto his stomach. Around him, he noticed the twins, Maria, and the tall basketball player in various stages of recovery. He was dumbstruck to find that they were outdoors. Gray clouds loomed overhead, as a small swirl of darker ones circled their surroundings. Pushing off of the ground to get up, Paul immediately noticed that it was spongy and smooth. It reminded him of foam rubber, but was covered in a thin layer of dust. It had obviously been brightly colored and cheery at one time, but now looked sinister. He got to his feet and walked over the strange ground to meet the others. Along the way, he came across many black, burnt, and shattered bricks of the same material as the ground. It appeared as though they had been stacked into towers at some time in the past.

"Ugh. Is everyone okay?" Paul asked, finally reaching Maria.

"Ah. Yea, I guess. My leg's a bit numb," she complained.

"I've been a bit better," the dark-haired boy said.

"What is your name anyway? I don't think I've met you before," Paul noted.

"You obviously don't hang around in the right crowds. I'm Dan. You know, captain of the basketball team?" he looked at Paul, who just gave him a blank stare. "Useless."

"We don't have time for this." said Nina. "We have to find out where we are. Any guesses?"

"Not a clue. One minute, Pauly here's geeking out on that computer of his, the next, we end up in Timbuck-two!" Dan said.

"This sure racks up on my list of weirdest stuff of all time," Rob stated.

Nina gave him a wry smile. "What, like number one?"

"No. Three. The two-headed duck and Loch Ness Monster are still the top."

They all laughed, despite the strange circumstances, but jumped with surprise when lightning crackled overhead. Staring up at the dark swirl of clouds, they were astonished as they watched a half-dozen eggs slowly float down to the ground. The instant the eggs touch the ground, the swirl of clouds dissipates, leaving only the gray cloud-cover overhead.

"Ooookay. Number two."

Nina nodded absent-mindedly, and stared at the alien objects. The rest were too stunned to move. She walked forward to observe the eggs up close.

"Is it Easter already?" Maria chuckled, trying to hide her fear.

Looking each egg over carefully, June stopped in front of a white one with ice-blue stars. She knelt down to pick it up, but Rob called out to her.

"Hey, sis! Be careful! You don't know if it's safe!"

"Oh, come on. It's not like they're gonna bite me. Aah!" She screamed with surprise when a faint glow from her purse spread to the egg she held, getting brighter by the second. Reacting as if she had been burned, the group ran to her and huddled around her.

"Are you okay?" Rob asked.

Instead of answering, Nina stared at the heavenly appearance of the egg, as the others did the same. The brittle eggshell and glow disappeared, revealing a simple gray mist. Slowly, the smoke-like substance accumulated, igniting a small spark on the top, hands, eyes, and a mouth.

"Hi!"

A group scream pierced the sky as four figures ran in four separate directions. In the confusion, Paul tripped and fell over a piece of rubble. Then, one voice was heard over all the rest.

"Stop it!" Nina shouted. "You're scaring him."

The little ball of smoke shuddered in fear, cuddling close to Nina's palm. Slowly, Dan, Rob, and Maria walk back to Nina. They stare, open-mouthed at the tiny creature.

"It's okay," Nina said softly. "No one's gonna hurt you. I'm Nina. My, you certainly are very warm."

The puff of smoke looked up and smiled at her. "You're very kind, Nina. I'm Mokumon."

"What exactly are you?" Rob asked. Nina gave him a look that told him he shouldn't have asked that.

"That's okay. I'm a digimon."

"Digi-what?"

"Digimon! It's a shorter name for Digital Monster."

Dan laughed at this. There was only so much of this he could stand. What he didn't notice, however, was that the red and white striped egg behind him had begun to glow.

"Digimon? Mokumon?" Dan repeated. "This is getting way too weird. I can't keep track of half your names already."

"Well, then what's your name?" asked a voice behind him.

"Don't you remember? I'm Dan! Captain of the Clearview High Basketball Team!"

A silver, mouse-like creature with a live cable for a tail leapt onto Dan's head.

"Nice to meet you, DanCaptainoftheClearviewHighBasketballTeam! I'm MetalKoromon. It's kinda weird for a name, but not compared to yours!"

Dan jumped up and down, screaming, "Aah! Get it off! Get it off!" MetalKoromon, merely giggled and hopped to the ground. Dan, more shocked than scared, bent down to look at the little creature. "Oh, you think you're soo funny, don't you, little guy?" MetalKoromon merely nodded and giggled some more.

Maria stepped toward a violet and silver striped digiegg and touched it, followed by another familiar glow. She walked back to the group, holding a small, red blob with three horns.

"I'm Punimon!"

Paul had tripped and fallen directly in front of a yellow-orange egg with brown and red splotches. His device dropped out of his hand as he fell, landing in front of the egg, causing both to glow. As the eggshell disappeared, the device stopped glowing, leaving colors to match the egg. When this egg's shell dissipated, a yellow, flower-like creature, complete with a leaf-like tail, is left.

"Um…hi. I'm Paul. Are…you a digimon too?"

"Uh huh. I'm Popomon."

Picking up his newfound friend, Paul walked back to the others to introduce Popomon to the entire group.

Dan looks own at MetalKoromon an asks, "So, I'm guessing you're a digimon too?"

"Yup! Sure am!" answered his companion.

"I think all of them are," Maria noted. The small creatures all nodded in agreement.

"Well, Rob," Nina adds. "You seem to be left out. Where's yours?"

Rob looked at the two remaining eggs. One had green and brown stripes. The other was blue with brown stars. Picking the starred one, he touched the top of the egg. The shell disappeared, leaving a familiar mass of smoke. It concentrates to form another Mokumon that floats next to the other.

"What? They're the same!" Rob yelped.

"They're twins!" Maria corrected.

Nina laughed at the irony, saying, "What a coincidence, huh?"

"I'm also Mokumon!" the misty little digimon reassured.

After the rest of the introductions, the group turned to the last egg.

"So what do we do with that one? We could at least see what kind it is," Nina suggested.

"Don't we have enough to worry about?" asked Dan.

Nina walks over and picked up the egg. Unlike the rest, it merely wobbled a bit in her arms.

"What's wrong? It didn't work."

The others walked closer, so they each could try the same, only to find the same result. The egg would not disappear.

"What's the deal, MetalKoromon? Why won't the egg disappear?"

"Well, digimon normally take a lot of care and time to hatch. Something special must have happened for us all to be born right after arriving."

"What could it have been?" Maria asked. She looked around, and noticed Paul's device hanging, which he held in his hand. "Paul! That device that you have! It's changed!"

Paul looked at the now yellow-orange device again and nodded. "Yea. It happened right when Popomon hatched."

Rob took out his own device and was shocked to see that it had turned navy blue with brown details. He announced, "Mine did too!"

The others each take out their respective devices and notice the same changes. Maria's device had tuned violet with silver details, Nina's had turned gray with blue details, and Dan's was now white with red details.

"They look like the colors that were on all the eggs," Maria observed.

"What does it mean?" Paul asked. He turned to the digimon. "Do you guys think these things could've made you hatch?"

"I don't know. We've never seen anything like those before!" Popomon said.

"That still doesn't answer what we do with the last egg," Nina noted.

"You can hand it over nice and slow," came a piercing voice from behind the group.

* * *

Finding the room that the creature had entered was easy. Josh crept along the wall to the edge of the doorway. Hearing whispers coming from the inside, Josh peered around the doorway, only to find a vast amount of electronic equipment, cluttering the entire space. At the opposite end of the room, the four-legged creature was typing oddly on a keyboard with its tusks. As Josh scanned the room for the egg, he found it floating, suspended between two halves of another tower-like bundle of wires. Josh waited until the creature had its back turned to him to dash into the room and duck behind a large assortment of equipment. He then silently crept deeper into the room, until he could hear the creature's words clearly.

"Ah! Everything is ready!" it boomed. "Now, my little friend, you are going to be the bringer of destruction to this world in the Master's name. Now, isn't that exciting?" The monster finished typing and listened as the machine warmed up. "I'll leave you to your fate, young one. When this is finished, you'll be the ultimate tool for the Master's conquest of this world." As the elephant-creature savored the words it had just spoken, it turned from the console and began to walk out of the room.

Josh quickly ducked into the shadows, so he was not spotted. Once the footsteps were safely diminishing in the hallway, he emerged next to the control console. He heard the machinery whirring faster and faster, growing louder. As he glanced up at the egg, he saw a black mass appear from the top of the tower of wires. Slowly following their path, the mass descended slowly, growing closer to its defenseless target. Josh frantically punched at the controls, looking for a way to shut the machine off. To his dismay, the keys and buttons were all labeled in some sort of alien language. Nothing he pressed made any difference in the machine. The black mass continued to descend. Frustrated with his dilemma, Josh leapt onto the control panel. From this gain of height, he tried to pull the egg to safety, but was shocked to see that he couldn't touch it. Some sort of force field was blocking his hands. He jumped with surprise when the device in his hand started to glow. A beam of light shot out of the device and hit the black mass. Instead of dissipating, the mass changed into a golden orb of energy, which continued along its path. Once it reached the egg, it entered its outer shell as it transformed. The tattered-looking tan egg became healthy, complete with golden scales. It floated directly through the force field and into Josh's arms. Another glow from his device penetrated the egg, as the shell disappeared. Sitting in his arms was an orange, slimy-looking digimon with a red horn on its forehead. Glancing at his hand, Josh noticed that his once-clear device was now black with gold details.

Not knowing what to think after first seeing the elephant creature, Josh said, "Uh…hey there, little guy."

To his surprise, the creature spoke back. "Hello. My name is Fufumon. What's your name?"

"I…I'm Josh. You can talk!"

"Of course I can. Can't everyone?"

"Well-" Josh was going to disagree, but heard the familiar footsteps coming closer. "Come on! We have to hide!"

He ducked into the machinery again, with Fufumon tucked safely into his arms. It was just in time, as the elephant creature lumbered back into the room with pride in his steps. He stopped cold, when he noticed the egg was missing. "WHAT? Where is it? Where could it be?"

"Sethmon!"

An enormous image of an obscured face appeared hovering behind the elephant creature. It stared with cold eyes at the red-skinned monster.

"My, my Lord…Your- Your servant is here for you, Master."

"Stop your groveling, Sethmon. Where is the egg? Where is the experiment that I ordered? I thought you said you had it ready."

"Well, yes. I did. You see, the experiment, the egg, rather…well, I may have…lost it."

"_Lost it?_ How could you have _lost_ it? It was in your sight the whole time!"

"Well, not the _whole_ time. I…sort of left. To let the machine run."

"Why would you leave the room? Don't you know what you've done?"

"I wouldn't have had to leave the room, if _you_ hadn't have told me to watch the digieggs!"

"Very well, Sethmon. We will discuss my lack of faith in you later. There. We will now see what you missed."

The screen on the machine turned switched to a bird's eye view of the hologram, Sethmon, and the experiment area. It was distorted a bit, as the figures suddenly moved very quickly. Like a tape being rewound, the scene regressed backward until the egg reappeared. "There!" Sethmon exclaimed. "There was someone else here!" As the scene progressed again, they saw Josh messing with the controls, jump onto the console, and take the egg, which hatched into Fufumon. They paused the screen where it was. "But, what does it mean, Master? What was that creature?"

"Human," came the only reply. "Search the entire room! They have to be here somewhere!"

"We've got to get out of here," Josh whispered. Fufumon jumped out of his arms and floated a couple of inches off of the ground.

"But, how?" Fufumon asked. "They're just too big."

Sethmon was searching frantically around the room, while the face oversaw his work.

"That disgruntled pony is the only thing we have to worry about. Now! Make a run for it!"

They both race towards the exit with Josh running at full speed. As he turns back to make sure no one's looking, he notices Fufumon huffing and puffing, hopping up and down. It was obvious that it was as fast as the little digimon could run. Running back to pick him up, Josh tripped over a pipe, causing a loud sound to echo throughout the room. Josh and Fufumon each stared at Sethmon and the hologram with terror.

"There they are! Get them! Get them now!" the hologram boomed.

Fufumon closed his eyes tightly, as he began to glow. "Fufumon…digivolve to…Kyokyomon!" When the glowing stopped, Josh, Sethmon, and the hologram were all shocked to see a tan-colored, worm-like digimon with four flippers staring back at them.

"He…digivolved?" Sethmon blinked with disbelief.

"GET THEM!" screamed the hologram.

Without warning, Kyokyomon hopped back into Josh's arms and yelled, "Run!"

Josh turned on the spot and broke into a sprint, as Sethmon pawed the ground and growled. The masked digimon charged, gaining a fair amount of speed quickly. Josh ran as fast as he could, but Sethmon still gained on them. He continued out the door and straight into the hallway. Finding it hard to see clearly, Josh rolled to his right to avoid running into the opposite wall. Sethmon was not so lucky. With a resounding crash, the behemoth hit the wall, digging his tusks deeply into the brick. With a thunderous roar, Sethmon tried to pull himself out of the wall, with no success. He screamed with annoyance of his trap made by his own foolishness.

"What do you know? It worked!" hailed Kyokyomon.

"Let's get out of here," suggested Josh.

* * *

"Aah! A bug! A big, talking bug!" screamed Maria.

"That's no bug, Maria," said Punimon. "That's Dokunemon. He's a mean-spirited digimon with a poisonous nature."

"You mean there are more of these guys?" Dan asked.

"Yea," answered MetalKoromon. "But this guy is nothing more than a bully."

The green, worm-like digimon laughed. "Oh, you flatter me. I'll be sure to destroy you last. Now hand it over."

Dan walked over to Dokunemon and stared down at him. "Hey! You don't scare us, you little worm! Like Punimon said, you're nothing more than a bully. A _little_ bully, at that. You're not getting the egg no matter what you do."

"Oh, in that case, why don't you reconsider? Mass Morph!" Dokunemon laughed as he started to swell, growing larger and larger, soon growing even taller than Dan!

"Uh…Dan?" Nina asked. "You _really_ need to keep your big mouth shut."

"This is not good," Dan said.

"Now, _little worms_," Dokunemon chirped. "Hand it over! Or I'll _make_ you do it."

"What do we do now?" Rob asked.

Paul thought about the question for a moment. He then ran toward Dokunemon, as he yelled, "Protect that egg!" to the others. He stopped next to Dan and stood, ready to fight.

"Don't tell me you suddenly grew a backbone," Dan chided.

"Shut up, Dan. Any bright ideas?" Paul asked.

"Hair Mist!" Paul as shocked when Popomon hopped onto his shoulder and then into the air, sending hair-like needles at Dokunemon.

MetalKoromon jumped onto Dan's shoulder, who also jumped with surprise. "Powder Blow!"

"Hey, guys! Stop it!" Paul beckoned. He held Popomon back.

"Yea. Let us big guys handle it," Dan said, catching MetalKoromon as well.

"We want to protect that egg just as much as you do!" Popomon yelled, as both digimon broke out of their grip and continued the attack.

The other three digimon hopped out of Rob, Maria, and Nina's arms as well. Punimon hopped forward, with the two Mokumon floating behind, giving a charging yell.

"Acid Bubbles!" Punimon's attack came, hitting Dokunemon square in the beak.

Both Mokumon attacked in unison, giving an echoing, "Smokey Blow!"

Dokunemon wavered, and then recovered himself. "Ugh. You're annoying me. Allow me to finish you off. Worm Venom!"

A violet mist emerged from Dokunemon's beak and floated towards the baby digimon. It covered the area, causing both the digimon and humans to fall to the ground, gasping for air. Dokunemon laughed in triumph and descended on the egg, now unguarded.

Punimon sat up, struggling, and gathered his strength to speak. "We have…to fight. For the digiegg!"

Each digimon began to glow, bathing the ground in light.

"What's happening?" Paul asked, to which no one could answer.

"Popomon…digivolve to…Frimon!" The yellow, flower-like digimon was replaced by a frilled, tabby, feline head complete with a tail to match.

"MetalKoromon…digivolve to…Kapurimon!" The silver mouse-like digimon disappeared, leaving a white and blue raccoon-like creature with a metal mask and ringed tail.

"Punimon…digivolve to…Tsunomon!" A yellow-orange creature with a single brown horn replaced the red blob.

Both masses of smoke said in unison, "Mokumon…digivolve to…DemiMeramon!" and became larger balls of flame, but with more defined hands and facial features.

Dan looked up at his raccoon-like companion. "Uh, does anyone want to tell me what just happened?"

"We'll talk later," Kapurimon said. "Howling Blow!" A shower of energy shot out of Kapurimon's mouth as a tiny howl was heard.

"Bubble Blow!" came Tsunomon's attack, throwing a steam of bubbles.

"Fireball!" both DemiMeramon said together, launching identical firey blasts at Dokunemon.

Frimon jumped up to Dokunemon's head and whipped his tail around, smacking him repeatedly, saying, "Tail Slap! Take that! And that! And that!"

Dokunemon roared, as he shrank back to his normal size. "Just you wait! I'm gonna tell my brothers! Lousy brats!"

"Bring it on!" Frimon said. "We'll beat them up too!"

Dokunemon scampered off, jumped into the bushes, and out of sight. The digimon each turned around to face their friends, who were dumbfounded.

"Whoa. You guys actually did it!" Dan exclaimed.

"But what happened to you? You look so different now. So much…bigger," Maria added.

The digimon laughed and said together, "We digivolved."

"Digivolved? More digi- words?" Nina asked.

"Yea. We grew to the next level," said DemiMeramon.

Rob shook his head in disbelief. "Weird. This is just plain weird."

"Well, that explains everything," Dan said sarcastically. "You sure do look different, though, MetalKoromon."

"I'm Kapurimon now."

"What?" Dan yelped. "You mean I just now remembered your name and you changed it?"

"That's what happens when we digivolve," said Kapurimon

Rob and Nina looked down at their flaming friends. "And you're…"

"DemiMeramon," they each said.

Maria looked at the horned digimon. "Tsunomon."

The frilled digimon gave a slight bow. "Frimon."

"Wow. Do you digi…" the word slipped Paul's mind. "Do you guys change like this all the time?"

"Well, we're always changing. But we can't normally digivolve. It usually takes time to do it. This was weird that we were all able to do it today," Frimon pointed out.

"Great. You're just as clueless as we are, then?" asked Paul.

"I'm afraid so," Frimon answers.

A low rumble caught their attention, as they looked off into the distance at a towering mountain. Dark clouds covered the top, as lightning crackled menacingly.

"Not good," Paul said.


End file.
